The Memorygirl Matrix

Gemmzie

MG, one word - BELMAS - mean anything? If so, I'll PM you some info (sorry for being vague, MSE constraints!)

Memory_Girl

OK - French 101 - bearing in mind these are taught using mind maps - but I teach the pronounciation phonetically. I use a native speaker to acquire the correct pronounciation.

where (n) is in brackets it is pronounced nasally

Again in french is "encore" - said O(n)'kor (Imagine a french waiter balancing on an apple core)

Almost in french is "presque" - said press'ke ( french waiter pressing on a K instead of a doorbell)

Also in french is "aussi" - said Oh'see (french waiter cuddling a guy dressed in black Ozzi - lol)

Theres 100 keywords that I'm building the course around in the languages mentioned.

Have fun with your first 3 words

Memorygirl

clairewop

Well Dh said lasagne was lovely and he could eat it again :j, Quite proud of myself. thanks for the help

I'm off now to edit pictures *watch this space, or rather the other matrix space*

ETA he's gone back for seconds lol

Gemmzie

Well done Claire! Sometimes experimentation works

maryb

My DD2 also has a tendency not to try if she can't do something first go. Part of it is that she has never liked change, big or small, of any sort so she won't leave her comfort zone. I learned how to manage her as a baby by giving her plenty of warning that something was going to happen ("nearly bedtime - do you promise you will go up like a good girl in 5 minutes?" etc)so that when it did happen she didn't really see it as change IYSWIM.

Funnily enough, making her a bit more self-aware about this dislike of change has helped a lot since she now knows from experience that once the change has happened she is fine with it. I made a joke about it and said she had never liked change since the day she was born and even before - she had to be induced because she was late!! That made her giggle.

That is one strategy. The other one is just being mean mummy and forcing her - like with tables. There was no way round her reluctance to learn her tables so we just drilled her relentlessly until she got to the stage where she realised she was actually quite good at them compared to her classmates. We find that we just have to use a variety of strategies (including bribery!!) but not let her get away with shying away from it - once she realises she can be good at something she will work hard

Memory_Girl

Quick anwers to some pretty good questions?

How quick can you build this with your kids?

The good news is that the majority of words in say french or german are almost the same as the english equivalent - so the first thing to do is create Mind Maps of words that are the same but pronouced with the appropriate accent. Go on , go on, try it like "allo allo"

For example -

English - telephone
French - telephone
German - telefon

Do you see?

So suddenly there is a huge chunk of vocabulary that is "already known" - result is growing confidence in the child in speaking out as they know the answers.

What about teaching gender?

For french example

Neutral words create a mental image with a french waiter.
Masculine words with a Mime artist
Feminine words with Madeline from the cartoons in the books.

So whenever you remember the association that reminds you of how you say the word you also get the gender. This was somethig struggled with at school - you were just somehow supposed to "acquire" the knowledge of whether a noun was masculine or feminine.

SO:

La nappe - the tablecloth, Madeline lying on a tablecloth having a nap.

Do you see? Actually its much more complicated to describe than to actually do with Mind Maps and pictures - lol

MG

cazmcf

Sorry to highjack, more tears from DD over english homework. She has to read a text and answers the questions in full sentences. She is crying over every sentence and it has took her 10 mins to do 1 sentence even though I pointed out the answers in the text.

I've had to walk out as I can feel myself getting angry. She's blaming me for mistakes and the homework being hard. I've tried to give her a motivational speach 'lets show your teacher how good you are, your teacher would rather see your homework correct with marks (rubber marks) than wrong, lets make your teacher smile (he never smiles)' and I just get back all the negative remarks, 'I'm not good, cries about the marks, he never smiles and he never will smile.

Some day I may film one of these episodes and show them to the teacher.

Karmacat

Thats interesting! I always need to know the theory/principle behind something if I'm to make it work for me - so, knowing the theory that Madeleine is used for feminine words would really help me.

But this particular place is where I really don't get this kind of memorisation - and I'm sure you've heard it at *least* ten thousand times, MG, and I really apologise. But I just don't get how having to remember a picture helps you to remember a word. In my head, that equals *double* the amount of stuff to be remembered .... can you help?

Cheery_Daff

cazmcf - how sad for you and your daughter Teacher sounds like a right old grump! :eek: Would she feel more comfortable writing things out in rough on another paper first perhaps, at least that would get rid of the marks, and one stress? Perhaps a rest, a walk is in order before starting again...? Otherwise, no useful suggestions from me, just a hug for both of you xx

Karmacat

Oof, yes, just hopped back on, thats horrendous, cazmcf ... you and your DD need some help, and the teacher needs a good talking to.

Lots of hugs.